Captain’s log: date unknown

Long before their culture popped up in the 24th century,  and apparently giving the 23rd century a complete miss, at least as far as the United Federation of Planets was concerned, the Ferengi showed up in 2151, and attempt to loot the Enterprise.

Written by Maria and Andre Jacquemetton from a story by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, this episode debuted on 27 March, 2002, and features two Trek alumni, Ethan Phillips and Clint Howard, both taking on roles as the invasive, theft-focused Ferengi, they are joined by Jeffrey Combs in his only Enterprise appearance when he isn’t playing  the Andorian Shran.

It seems the entire crew of the Enterprise has been stunned, and the Ferengi want to make off with as much as they can. This works within continuity, since no one really sees them, this could, in the Trek universe, be the first encounter between the two species.

There’s only one person who hasn’t been rendered unconscious, Trip (Connor Trinneer) and it may be up to him to rid the ships of the invaders.

These Ferengi are a little rougher around the edges than those we have encountered before, and it also gives Trip to have an action beat or two to himself. It also lets Archer (Scott Bakula) have a chance to be funny as he and T’Pol (Jolene Blalock), who catches the eyes of the lusty Ferengi, aid Trip once they are roused.

It ends up being a fun episode, and while, could arguably mess with continuity, I think it woks in terms of the overall story and really doesn’t bother the universe as much as some fans took umbrage with.

Captain’s log: date unknown

Stephen Beck pens the teleplay for this episode from a story he concocted with Berman and Braga. It debuted on 3 April, 2002.

The episode also features another Trek alum in the form of Rene Auberjonois.

The Enterprise discovers what they think is a derelict spacecraft that has crashed on a planet (doesn’t Alien start that way?). They believe that they can salvage some of the equipment and repurpose it for themselves.

But it isn’t as deserted as they thought.

As they investigate they discover the ship does have a population, of a sort. But despite doing their best to offer the survivors a way off the planet, they refuse, and they have a very particular reason as to why.

Trip starts to get along with Liana (Annie Wersching), which will give the story its emotional heart, when the reveal comes halfway through the story. They story tries to play the reveal close to the chest, but by keeping Auberjonois in the background for the first part of the story tells you he’s going to be important before the end of the episode. He is, of course, and the reveal has to do with him, and Liana.

Consequently the reveal isn’t quite as powerful as it could be, but it’s still a good story.

The Human Adventure continues Thursday as I explore more of season one of Star Trek: Enterprise – The Complete Series on blu-ray from Paramount Canada.

Boldly go…